In general, in the bottle processing field, the bottles are loaded on a rotary carousel to which various processing stations, which operate on the bottles, are associated. These processing stations may be, for example, stations for applying labels, or filling stations, or stations for closing the bottles, etc.
According to the prior art, a plurality of sensors are mounted on the carousel, each located at a plate. More specifically, again according to the prior art, each sensor detects, during rotation of the bottle on the relative plate, a distinctive mark on the bottle (commonly know as “spot”) which may be, if, for example, it is a glass bottle, the glass seam, a logo prepared on the glass (on which, for example, a label is to be applied), or yet other marks.
Once the sensor has detected the bottle “spot”, a control unit connected to the sensor processes the signal and associates it with the corner in which the plate is positioned at that precise moment. In this way the orientation of the bottle on the plate is known and it is, for example, possible to apply a label at a desired position on the bottle.
Normally, each sensor is connected to the carousel (at a plate) using a bracket and it rotates integrally with the carousel so as to follow each bottle during rotation of the carousel.
Each bracket is normally connected to an upper part of the carousel and it extends mainly in a vertical direction towards the plates. In other words, the carousel normally has a plurality of vertical rods distributed along the perimeter of the carousel.
However, this prior art technique has several drawbacks.
More specifically, a first disadvantage is linked to the fact that the presence of a plurality of rods and a plurality of sensors further complicates the structure of the carousel and increases the dimensions of the carousel.
In addition, the presence of a plurality of brackets distributed around the carousel hinders access to the internal components of the carousel, such as when, for example, it is necessary to carry out the maintenance or replacement of components.
Moreover, a further drawback is linked to the fact that it is necessary to have as many sensors as there are plates of the carousel. Therefore, in the case of large carousels with many stations, it is necessary to have a large number of detection sensors. Consequently, the presence of many sensors increases the final cost of the carousel due both to the costs of the sensors themselves and the costs of the structures which support them.